


A New Life-Take Two

by LadyLindariel (Morwen80)



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-07 05:50:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morwen80/pseuds/LadyLindariel
Summary: Eighteen-year-old Estella, a lonely young woman with a concealed heritage, is given a new chance at living among the family she has never known. When ghosts from her past and future plague and haunt her, will she learn to push aside all feelings of despair and move forward into a new life? Written in the 1st POV from several characters. AU





	1. Tragedy Strikes

**Author's Note:**

> I am attempting to write two of my major stories in the First Point of view. This is my first attempt at this, so I hope it turns out ok. I will be making some changes to this story later on and it will be in mostly Estella's, Legolas's, Thranduil's, Elrond's, and Elladan's point of view. I will let you know who's pov it is in the chapter. Enjoy!

**Estella's POV**

Seattle, WA

Tears stung my eyes. Gathering a deep breath, I threw down my coat and book bag and collapsed on my bed. Once more, I had to endure bouts of name calling and being attacked. Trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall from my eyes, I finally relented and allowed them to fall freely. In the span of my whole life, for as long as I could remember, I had always been different, and because of that I had no friends to help in school, no friends at all, in fact, save my mother.

To make matters worse, I even looked different. At first glance, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. However, if one looked closer, they would be able to notice differences, the biggest being my ears which held a slight point to them. Not a whole lot, of course, but enough to make me self-conscious. My mother, Luiniel, also had small points to her ears as well and said it was a genetic disorder, it made me unique, and I should be proud of those differences.

Sniffing, I sat up, wishing that I belonged in another world. To be honest, I had always felt like I was from a different world. I used to tell my mother about it, but every time I did, she would become sad and tell me I needed to not talk about such things. So, eventually, I stopped, and kept it to myself or wrote my thoughts in a journal. Over the years I acquired many and ended up having to buy several boxes to place them all in.

Later that evening, I heard my mother call me for dinner. Though I wiped away my tears and washed my face, I knew I could never conceal my feelings from my mother. Honestly, I often swore she could read my thoughts.

Making my way to the kitchen, my thoughts still swirled nearly making me dizzy. Before entering, I took several deep breaths to compose myself and then walked in slowly.

"How was school?" my mother inquired, handing me two plates with which to set the table.

"It was all right, nothing really of any importance to mention," I replied, avoiding eye contact as I took the plates from my mother.

It had always just been my mom and me. I never knew my father; I did not even have a picture of him. I had asked my mom when I was younger what happened and why there were no pictures of him around. My mother told me he lived in another country far away and they had been separated before she found out she was pregnant with me. When I questioned further, she told me to drop it. Soon, I began to think my mom did not care for my father, as she hated talking about him, but at night I would often hear her crying when she though me fast asleep, and more than once I would listen to her call out his name in her sleep.

My mother raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "If it was okay, then why are you not looking at me when you talk? You always avoid eye contact when you are hiding something."

It was true, whenever something bad happened, or I was very depressed, I always avoided eye contact with my mom as she always managed to see right through me. It upset my mother to see me suffer, and I hated to see her hurt. As of late, she was becoming increasingly melancholy. I knew the reason, but as my mother was prone to outbursts of anger or despair, I avoided bringing it up.

"Mom, please, I do not want to talk about it," I snapped, immediately regretting it. Feeling guilty about my harsh words I looked up to see her shocked face. " I am sorry," I apologized. "I did not mean to snap. I hate this place. I…," I trailed off as my mom moved around the table and put her hands comfortingly on my shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay, sweetheart. You do not have to explain anything to me. I hate seeing you hurt and I know you do not feel like you fit in here. If I could take you out of this world and to a place where you could be spared this pain, I would," my mother replied her voice trembling slightly as she gently wiped a tear from my face.

Placing a hand on top of my mom's, I noticed it was cold. Removing my hand as if receiving an electric shock, I looked up at my mother, concerned, and saw the light which usually shone in her eyes had vanished entirely. Every night as of late I would fall asleep to the sound of her mournful sobs, yearning for her father. How I wished I could take my mom's pain away from her. She was so strong, always putting her worries on the back burner to take care of me. Many times, I would feel waves of guilt for crying over trivial things while she was suffering silently to protect me.

We ate in silence that night, neither one of us talking as we were both lost in our thoughts. Once I cleared the dishes, I joined my mother in the sitting room where we watched a movie together like we did every Friday night. During the film, I noticed my mother did not laugh as she usually did. In fact, she appeared to be drifting off into her world. I could not help but feel worried something was wrong with her. After the credits had rolled, I slowly got up from the couch, kissed her goodnight and went to bed.

Later, a little after midnight, I woke up feeling panic rising within me. Getting up, I instinctively headed to my mother's room, intuitively knowing there was nothing wrong with my own. My eyes darted around looking for what could have caused me to wake, feeling a flood of relief as I did not notice anything out of place, reaching forwards to gently pull the covers back up over my mom's shoulders. It was then; I saw her lying on her side with her hands over her heart. Leaning closer, I noticed she was cold, unbreathing.

My heart dropped to my stomach, and a flood of horror rose to choke me. "Mom!?" I shook her, begging for her to wake up. "Mom! Mom! Please!" I pleaded, tears streaming from my eyes.

Suddenly, I released her shoulders and fell backward, my throat constricting tightly, dizziness washing over me as the reality of the situation struck me like a lightning bolt.

My mother was dead.


	2. Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any suggestions on what they would like to see different in this, please leave it in a review. I will take it into consideration for future chapters :)

**Estella's POV**

One week passed since my mother died. One long, painful week.

I honestly still could not believe she was gone. This had to all be a nightmare or some cruel joke. As I sat on the couch, tears still staining my red cheeks, I half expected my mother to waltz through our front door and yell, "Surprise!" But she never did. As I stared down at the pathologist's report, I could feel my heart constrict as I read his notes a foul taste in my mouth.

Upon further investigation, an autopsy revealed my mother died of a heart attack. However, I knew that was not true—a broken heart, not a heart attack had claimed my mother's life, ripping her from me. No matter how hard she tried to conceal her grief from me, I knew she missed my father terribly.

I crumpled the report up and threw it across the room before leaning back against the couch covering my face with my hands. I forced myself to hold back the screams that threatened to break through, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I could no longer hold back my, anger and my grief.

Today, I had buried my mother, and now all I wanted to do was to lie down on my bed and cry. First, the father I never knew abandoned us, and now my mother was gone. It was more than I could handle.

Since I had no other relatives, social services wanted to take me and place me in a foster home, but I firmly refused telling them I would not leave my home. This was the only thing I had left, and as it held my best memories of my childhood and my mother, I would put up a fight before I allowed anyone to rip that away from me as well. Fortunately, as I was nearing my eighteenth birthday in only a few weeks and would be considered of age, social services had agreed to let me stay. I sighed heavily as I got up from the couch. I would now have to get a job to be able to afford to remain here.

No longer able to bear the silence, I went straight to my mother's room and pulled out her favorite shirt. It smelled of lavender. Inhaling the scent, I laid on the bed and cried until no more tears would come. Slowly sitting up, I blew my nose, still clutching the shirt before getting up to walk over to my mother's vanity set. I always admired the intricate carvings which ran along the sides of the mirror and table. My mom had had it specially engraved. She had told me one day when I asked, that the engravings were an ancient script from long ago.

I ran my hands along the engravings, feeling a little comforted by the motion and the familiarity of the wood. I never understood why, but whenever I touched the script, I seemed to feel relaxed, and this was no different. Opening the lid of the vanity, I began to look through my mother's necklaces, touching them gently. Suddenly, my fingers hit a small wooden rectangular box, making it slide to the edge of the vanity. I had never noticed this before. My curiosity getting the better of me, I picked it up, turning it over in my hands seeing it had the same intricate carvings on the outside as the vanity. Sitting back on the bed, I opened the box gasping.

Inside was a beautiful heart-shaped sapphire, held in place by a shimmering silver chain. From the size of the sapphire, the necklace looked like it would be heavy, but to my surprise when I picked it up, it was quite light. Shock set in as I pondered as to where my mother would have gotten such a trinket. In all my life, I had never seen her wear it.

Holding it in my hands, I felt my eyes burn again with fresh tears. As I tried to hold them back, my thoughts turned to my father, and I began to wonder why he was not here to comfort me. Anger flooded me like a flash flood during a storm.

"Why did you abandon us! If it were not for you, my mother would still be here!" I screamed, pure fury overwhelming me.

Thinking about the father I never met, I could not hold back the tears and began to sob again, crying harder than before. Flinging myself onto my side, I curled into a ball, still holding the necklace and box close to my heart, wishing with everything, that I could find my father and discover why he abandoned my mother and me. Finally exhausted from the day's events, and from crying, I fell asleep still clutching the necklace.

I had not even been asleep for more than a few minutes when I felt a slight pull. Nothing hard or painful, but enough to wake me up. At first, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but soon I noticed a soft white light began to illuminate the room until it completely enveloped me. I did not even have a chance to scream for as quickly as it happened, the light vanished. The bed I had been lying on was empty.

I was gone.


	3. I am not in Seattle anymore

**Estella's POV**

I moaned in annoyance as the sound of birds chirping filled my ears. Not wanting to get up, I turned to reach my mother's pillow to try and block the noise out, but instead of a soft feather pillow, I felt something hard and cold against my face. My eyes flew open, and I looked around, finding myself lying in the dirt, surrounded by tall trees. As my eyes wandered, taking in my unfamiliar surroundings, I felt fear and confusion creep into me like a knife. I could have sworn I fell asleep on my mother's bed, but I was not in her bed. Nowhere close.

"Where am I and how did I get here?"

Slowly sitting up, I tried to remember the events of last night. After a few moments, the veil lifted from my mind, and it was at that moment I remembered the bright white light in my mother's room engulfing me and snatching me away bringing me here…wherever here was.

Feeling something hard grasped in my hand, I looked down and realized it was my mother's sapphire necklace. Not wanting to lose it in this unfamiliar place, I clasped it around my neck, where a small gold heart-shaped locket also rested. The pendant was a sweet sixteenth present which held a picture of my mom and me.

I knew I needed to figure out where I was and the only way I was going to do that was if I explored my surroundings and attempted to find someone who could help me. "I will not find anyone sitting in the dirt."

Sighing heavily, I stood up, but when I got to my feet, instantly a massive wave of nausea and dizziness, assailed my entire body. I tried to move, but everything spun like a top, and before I could lower myself back to the ground, I fell to my knees, scraping the palms of my hands. Feeling a burning sensation from where the skin was torn slightly from my hands, I cried out in pain, and closed my eyes, hoping the queasiness and vertigo would pass. After a few minutes, the dizziness finally receded, but nausea did not. As my stomach became queasier, I started to take deep breaths, trying to calm my stomach; however, my stomach had a mind of its own, and seconds later I found myself vomiting into a nearby bush.

When I finished emptying my stomach, I wiped my mouth off, still feeling a little shaky. Once I knew I would not be sick again, I attempted to stand once more, but this time slowly. After a moment or two, my mind became clear, and my stomach settled down enough for me to move forward. Slowly, I began walking into the forest, trying to figure out where I was. One thing was for sure; I certainly was not in Seattle anymore. As I continued, minutes turned into hours, and the further I walked into the forest, the more lost and confused I became. The trees all seemed the same!

"I have to find a way out of here," I nearly screamed, as the sickening feeling of being lost crept its way up my body like a vine.

Eventually, I came to a stream. It gurgled and chattered to the rushes at its side, and just as I started to cross the creek when I stopped suddenly in my tracks. Looking across the stream, I noticed the trees were black. Massive white strands billowed, tangled together in spider webs. Another thing had crossed my mind—no birds were singing now. In fact, no sound could be heard for miles around. A chill ran up my spine, and I shivered, looking away from the black woods and to the stream.

"Now what am I going to do?" Suddenly, I remembered my mother once told me if you followed a river upstream, you would be further away from civilization, but if following it downstream, you would eventually come to civilization. The only question was, which way was upstream and which way was downstream? I knew I needed to decide and soon, so I decided to go to the left, hoping I might find someone before nightfall.

About an hour or so passed and I still was not any closer to finding a town, and on top of that, I was beginning to feel my body become weaker. I had not had anything to eat since the previous night and whatever I did have for energy was somewhere behind me in a bush. I was not sure how much further I could go. The more I walked, the more my body protested, and I had to fight the urge to sit. But as I gazed around me, I knew I needed to continue for each passing second, I was not only becoming weaker, but I was also feeling disoriented. As much as I wanted to blame it on the lack of food, something inside of me was telling me, it wasn't and that I needed to keep moving.

"I have to find a way out of here," I whispered, too afraid to cry out. "Mom, I need you. I am so scared."

Just as I was beginning to think I was not going to find a way out, soft whispers filled the air, stopping me in my tracks for only a fleeting moment. At first, I thought it was just a figment of my imagination, but as I listed closer, I could hear the voices once more. Feeling a wave of relief come over me, I started to run in hope, dashing through the thick shrubs only to nearly collide into a group.

Faster than I could blink, they had strung their bows and were now surrounding me with arrows aimed right at me. Raising my hands in instinct, I stood as still as I possibly could too scared to even breathe, lest I find myself as a human pincushion. As I stood staring at them, wishing they would lower their weapons, I noticed they were wearing strange brown and green medieval tunics and leggings, and their hair was long ranging from black to silver. But it was their faces that stunned me—a wild beauty that I had never even dreamed of. My first thought was they were reenacting a play, but that thought quickly left my mind for their eyes held an expression that said they were in dead earnest, and not even the most gorgeous, talented actor could even hope to look like these people, the embodiments of wise and ancient fairness.

Trembling, my eyes suddenly fell on their ears, and my breath hitched: their ears were leaf-shaped, almost like hers. "Help me!" I cried out, holding up my hands to show I was unarmed. Fear was gripping me like a vice as I realized I had no idea if they could even understand me and even though I had shown them I meant no harm, they still had not lowered their weapons. I tried once more to make them understand me. "Please, help me, I don't mean any harm. I just want to go home."

One of the natives finally stepped forward and searched me. It was only when he was satisfied that I had no weapons on me that he gave the others a nod indicating that I was not a threat to them, and they lowered their weapons. The native who had searched me spoke to a nearby companion rapidly in a strange fluid language, that sounded like music. Leaving the group for a minute, he soon returned with someone following him. I noticed it was a male—tall, with bright blue eyes and pale gold hair. If I hadn't been so frightened, I probably would've been mesmerized by his beauty.

He must have sensed my fear, for he raised his hands with a brief smile as if trying to comfort me. He finally spoke. "My name is Legolas Thranduilion, Prince of Taur-nu-Fuin. Who are you and what is a young Elf doing wandering alone in these woods?"

I swallowed. "Taur-nu-Fuin?" I tried to repeat the word, and I knew I had mispronounced it for the others looked at me with a strange look on their faces. I suddenly did a double take when I realized he had called me an Elf. "Wait, an Elf? No, I am no Elf! My name is Estella, and I am from Seattle. I do not know how I got here," I cried throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation.

Legolas' eyes slitted and he turned back to his companions before redirecting his attention back to me. "I do not know of what you speak,  _Estella_ , but you may not wander alone, here. Spiders come fierce and fear us no longer, and they will not hesitate to slay an unarmed Elf such as you. My father will welcome you."

He beckoned, and I hesitated, not sure if I should follow, but I soon realized, I did not have much of a choice, and as I started to follow him, the world began to tilt, spinning as darkness encroached over my vision. The last thing I saw before I passed out was the one known as Legolas catching me before I hit the ground.

* * *

***Taur-nu-Fuin is the Elvish word for Mirkwood**


	4. Chapter 4

**Legolas's POV**

As soon as I noticed the young Elf maiden, Estella begin to sway on her feet, I barely had a fraction of a second to catch her before she collapsed in my arms. I was not sure if some fell magic was at work or if it was from shock, but I knew I needed to get her to our head healer, Innor immediately. As soon as I had positioned Estella in my arms, I started for my father's Halls. "Berion, I want you and your Elves to take over for me while I take her to Innor. When you have secured the area then you may return." I turn my head to three other members of my patrol. Calithilion, Gladhedir, Ramben, you three come with me. I may need you to protect me, if we are beset by enemies." The three at once were by my side.

Berion nodded. "Maer, hîr nín."

With all haste, I made my way home with the still unconscious elleth in my arms. A thousand questions raced through my mind.  _Who was she, how did she come to be in Mirkwood alone, and most importantly, how it was she did not know she was an Elf?_  As soon as I arrived at the main gates, two guards were staring at me with surprised looks on their faces. One of them was about to speak, but I stopped him before he could ask. "Not now, please open the gates. I need to get her to Innor at once." The guard stood aside and opened the gate.

Not even bothering to thank him, I hurried inside with the three members of my guard behind me. Before I even made it half-way to the healing wards, I stopped. "I can bring her the rest of the way on my own." The three bowed and left, and I brought Estella to Innor. When I got to his doors, I did not even bother knocking. Instead, I barged in to discover Innor sitting at his desk finishing up what appeared to be some reports.

Innor did not even bother looking up at me when I came in carrying the unresponsive elleth. I always seemed to have a habit of just barging in his office, and soon Innor came to recognize when it was me. "Legolas Thranduilion! What have I told you about barging into my office without knocking royalty though you may be?"

When I did not respond, Innor stopped writing long enough to look up at me. Seeing the young girl in my arms, he stood to his feet and set the quill down. "I apologize, Innor. I would have knocked, but as you can see, my hands are full," I half-joked.

Innor seemed unfazed when he saw the unconscious girl, as he led me to the healers' ward with all the calmness long years of his profession brought. "What happened, do you know?" he asked, as I laid her on a bed.

"I do not know. My patrol and I were scouting the perimeters further to the north when Salabion came back and told me there was a young elleth wandering around. When I finally got there, she began to babble on about wanting to go home to a place called Sea-adle. I asked her what she was doing in Taur-nu-Fuin alone, and she started to become more frightened–she appeared not to know she was an Elf! I eventually convinced her to let us bring her back to Adar's halls, but she only got a few steps before collapsing."

Innor seemed very concerned after hearing the strange tale. "That is odd indeed."

"Do you know what is wrong with her?" I asked growing more concerned.

Innor shook his head. "Not yet, Legolas. I need to examine her, but you need to step outside while I do."

I hesitated for a second a strange feeling of protectiveness for this mysterious elleth beginning to form. What if she woke up and panicked? It had already taken a while to convince her to follow me. If she awoke and I was not there, what then? I shook my head and decided it was best to obey Innor. After all, he was the best healer in Taur-nu-Fuin. I sighed and looked down on the still sleeping form. "Very well, but if she wakens I would have you tell me at once." Innor smiled softly and began to work on her, and I left the room but had decided to stay close to the doors, in case anything happened.

* * *

When I had first arrived at my father's halls with Estella, whispers arose, along with questions. I had instructed the three returning patrol members beforehand to try and answer any questions to the best of their abilities. Being questioned by your superiors was one thing but being interrogated by groups of giggling and gossiping ellith was another story.

On my way to the healing wards, I had passed Feren, my father's messenger. Seeing the surprised look on his face, I called over my shoulder and asked Feren to summon my father to the infirmary. Before he could respond, I had turned the corner and disappeared out of sight.

A few minutes had passed since I had left Estella alone with Innor. Ever since I laid eyes on her an unfamiliar feeling of wanting to protect her had overcome me. I was not sure if it was due to her being frightened or something else, but I knew I did not want to be away from her. As I walked the halls pondering over these thoughts, I heard soft footsteps behind me. Stopping, I looked up and saw my father standing there out of breath with a worried look on his face.

"Legolas, what is it now? When Feren told me I was needed here, I thought something happened to you!" I gently hugged my father feeling guilty for worrying him so and then quickly told him the story.

"Innor is trying right now to figure out what caused her to collapse," I finished wondering what was taking so long for him to come out.

I could see my father struggling for something to say. For many a year, my father ruled Mirkwood with nothing but his own strength and wit to protect us. He was kind but very untrusting of strangers and for a good reason. My father had stringent rules put in place to keep our people safe. One of them was not to bring strangers to his Halls without first interrogating them. While some may find that to be cruel, it was because of those laws that we had managed to remain safe for so long. I could tell by the long silence and his controlled breathing he was not happy that I had broken one of the most important laws, crowned Prince or not. Finally, my father spoke, his voice unnervingly calm.

"Legolas. What on Arda, were you thinking bringing some…strange elleth here like that? Do you even know if she is dangerous? You said so yourself; she had no idea where she was or how she got here! For all, we know she could be under some dark spell or a puppet of the Necromancer!"

As I opened my mouth to tell my father that he was thinking irrationally, a terrified scream reached our ears.

Instantly, we both ran into the room and were met with the sight of the young elleth curled up into a ball next to the wall, as if she was fending off a predator. Out of the corner of my eye, I observed Innor slowly walking toward her, speaking softly, trying to calm her down, telling her she was safe, and no one was going to hurt her.

But she did not hear any of it. "Stay away from me! Who are you and where am I?" Estella screamed, fear radiating off her. Looking frantically around the room, her eyes landed on me, and I saw her relax slightly, but not much.

I kneeled slowly and held my hand out to her. "It is all right. You are safe. Innor is our head healer. He was only trying to find out what happened to you," I said, pointing toward Innor, who stood back, having let me take over the situation.

Her eyes flickered from Innor and back to me. Then her eyes fell on my father, who was still very unsure whether it was a wise idea to have her here. "Who is that?" she whispered.

I laughed softly at the look on my father's face. "That is my father, King Thranduil. Do not worry; he will not hurt you."

Innor came and stood by my side and smiled gently. "My dear, if you will sit back on the bed, I will do my very best to try and find out what is going on."

I could see Estella growing frustrated. "I told Legolas already. My name is Estella, and nothing is wrong with me. I fell asleep on my mother's bed and woke up in a strange forest. I do not have any idea how I got here. All I want is to find a way home!"

My father finally took the liberty to speak. "Estella, is it? You claim you just woke up in the middle of Taur-nu-Fuin. That might be true; however, you also claim you have no idea how you arrived here, that you come from someplace called Sea-adle, and that you are not an Elf. I disagree with you that nothing is not wrong."

I eyed my father beginning to feel slightly angry at his words. "Father, please, be a little sympathetic. She is scared."

My father sighed and seated himself in a chair deciding that now was not the time to get into a debate over this.

Once more at hearing the word Elf, I saw Estella grow confused. "But I am not an Elf. Why do you keep calling me that?"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I sincerely doubt you are a  _fíriel._ "

"I am…what?"

"Mortal woman."

"Yes, I am human!"

Taking a deep breath, I stood to my feet and offered her a hand. Hesitantly, she took it, and I helped her to her feet and led her to a floor-length glass. "Take a look, and you will see for yourself that you are not human." When Estella looked into the mirror, the color drained from her face and a small gasp emitted from her as she touched her delicately pointed ears and fair face. "I don't understand this," she cried out. "How can this be? I do not ever remember looking like this!"

"If you allow Innor to look you over, he might be able to determine what happened to you and then we can help you get home," I said feeling pity for her. I could tell how frightened she was, and I wanted to help her in whatever way I could. Eventually, Estella agreed to let Innor examine her and my father, and I went back outside to wait.

As we waited outside, I tried to convince my father to let her stay here. He, however, would not be so easily persuaded. "Adar, I highly doubt she is a threat. She is terrified and is in need of help."

My father scoffed. "Then we will take her to Imladris or Lothlórien and let them deal with her. But I am not yet convinced she is not dangerous, and I do not believe you are letting her so easily deceive you!"

I could not believe my ears. I understood why my father was uneasy and wanted to be cautious, but even then, he never allowed someone who was in need of our help to be sent away like that. "You are being irrational, Adar. She is a young elleth, not some Dwarf or Yrch. Let her stay, at least until she is well, and if anything does happen while she is in our care, I will be responsible for it."

After what seemed like ages, my father finally relented and agreed to let her stay, under the condition, that I would be responsible for her and her actions. I hugged my father thanking him, and while we continued to wait for Innor to come out, I sent a servant to prepare a room for Estella near my room. Perhaps if she slept closer to my chambers, the young  _elleth_  would not feel as scared.

About half an hour later, Innor emerged and motioned for the two of us to follow him to his office.

"Well? What is the problem? Is it memory loss or some dark magic?" my father asked, trying not to sound inconsiderate. I forced myself to not glare at him.

Innor exhaled softly and gathered his thoughts. "No, she does not have any memory loss, but yes, some magic is involved." Seeing my father tense, he quickly continued. "Worry not, my lord. I do not believe it is dark magic. Estella is not from this world, or at least not born in Middle-earth. I believe her mother, however, was. She told me where she used to live, both she and her mother were always different from the other people, in looks." Innor paused for breath, then continued, "she does not know anything about her father, only that he was from what her mother called a different country. Her mother did not tell her anymore about her father, nor did she explain the reason why she and Estella looked different from everyone else. Her mother raised her alone. I think somehow the Valar are responsible for bringing her here. It seems she had a sort of veil of protection which kept her looking somewhat like a mortal while she was in that other world and when she arrived here it was removed." Innor took a deep breath and sat down in his chair.

I was astonished and could see that my father was as well, and it took a minute for the story to sink in. Finally, my father spoke. "What about her mother? Where is she?"

Innor frowned. "I asked her the same question, and she told me her mother died a couple of weeks ago from what the healers in their world call a heart attack. However, Estella says she believes it was from a broken heart, the result of her mother missing her father. I could not get any more information from her."

After hearing this, I noticed my father's face softened, and I could tell he began to feel sorry for the girl. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a parent, as did I. "So, what do we do? How can we help her?"

When I heard my father ask, I turned and looked at him with a look of shock. Only a few minutes ago, he was ready to send her away without so much as a second thought.

"Oh, be quiet, Legolas," he said rolling his eyes. I just smirked at him before turning my attention back to Innor.

Innor ran his fingers through his sleek hair before speaking. "The best thing you can do for her is to help her settle down and find her way in this new world. She is no doubt scared right now and probably feels confused and out of place here. Be patient with her, as she does not know of our ways nor does she speak our language. It will take time for her to feel at home here. She is still reeling from the fact she now has no mother or father."

For the first time since bringing Estella here, I found I could not speak. It took several long seconds before I managed to find his voice after hearing all this. "I will help her. I will show her around here and help her feel more comfortable in her new environment. If the Valar are indeed responsible for bringing her here, and if her parents are not originally from that world, then there must be a reason for her arriving here. Perhaps her father is still alive, and he is here, in Middle-earth, and she was brought here to find him?"

Innor nodded in agreement. "That is a good idea, Legolas. Estella seems to be more at ease around you and appears to trust you more. Also, it is possible her father could be here. She is no doubt one of the Noldor, and if her father is still on these shores, we might have a chance at finding him. For now, help her find her way around here and help her learn our language."

Agreeing to this course of action, my father gave me his blessing, and I went to get Estella. When I entered the room, Estella was lying on the bed, looking out the windows.

I could not help but feel sorry for her. I did wonder though, did her mother's fëa remain in the strange world Estella had lived in? Or had it gone to the Halls of Mandos? I hoped it was the latter.

Composing my thoughts, I finally found my voice. "Estella, you are going to stay here with my family and people. You will be staying in the royal wing, near to where my rooms are. We will also have you fitted for new clothing. I am sure there are a few dresses somewhere which will fit you, for the time being. I will take you to your rooms now so that you can bathe and eat." I walked over to her slowly and waited a few moments for the words to sink into her head. Eventually, she turned over and slowly sat up. Taking a hand in mine, I squeezed it gently. "We will find out what happened, Estella. I promise."

Estella looked at me, and for the first time since arriving in Middle-earth, she smiled. "Thank you, Legolas, for everything."

"You are welcome Estella, now let me take you to your rooms," I replied, smiling back.

Getting up, Estella followed me. If I was going to help her, then I prayed she knew she would have nothing to fear.

*** fíriel** –Sindarin for mortal maid


End file.
